Electronic search interface for identifying artisan sellers

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are various embodiments for an electronic search interface to identify artisan sellers. A search query is received from a client. An electronic item database is then searched to identify items that are relevant to the search query. Two or more items may be offered by each of multiple sellers. A search result listing is generated that includes one item offered by each seller with a greatest display prominence. Other items offered by the sellers may be excluded or displayed with a lesser prominence.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims priority to,co-pending U.S. Patent Application entitled “ELECTRONIC SEARCH INTERFACEFOR IDENTIFYING ARTISAN SELLERS,” filed on May 4, 2015, and assignedapplication Ser. No. 14/703,318, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Electronic marketplaces may feature a multitude of different sellers.The sellers may offer a variety of different products. In some cases,multiple sellers may offer an identical product. Such sellers maycompete based upon price, delivery options, reputation, and otherfactors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead being placed uponclearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in thedrawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding partsthroughout the several views.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are pictorial diagrams of examples of user interfacesaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a networked environment accordingto various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are pictorial diagrams of example user interfacesrendered by a client device in the networked environment of FIG. 2according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating one example of functionalityimplemented as portions of a search application executed in a computingenvironment in the networked environment of FIG. 2 according to variousembodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram that provides one exampleillustration of a computing environment employed in the networkedenvironment of FIG. 2 according to various embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to providing an electronic searchinterface for identifying artisan sellers in an electronic marketplace.Many sellers may purchase products in bulk quantities from manufacturersor distributors and then resell the products to the general public. Suchproducts may be mass produced, perhaps through the use of automatedprocesses and machines. By contrast, artisan sellers may individuallycraft each product. Such products may include, for example, jewelry,clothing, home decor, pottery, stationery, party favors, and others. Insome cases, artisan sellers may take orders for custom products that areindividually tailored for specific customers.

Typical electronic search interfaces may commingle products offered byregular sellers and artisan sellers. When a user enters a search query,a product database may be searched and all relevant results displayed.Unfortunately for artisan sellers, they may sell individual products inrelatively low volumes, and relevancy formulas may rank their productlistings near the bottom of the search results. Fungible products thatare offered by many sellers may have much higher collective salesvolumes, thereby resulting in high rankings in the search results. Also,when a user is searching for an individually crafted product, the usermay be more interested in learning about the artisan seller in generalas opposed to the information in a single product listing.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure facilitate an artisanseller search within an electronic product database. In one embodiment,when searching for artisan products, the product search results includeproducts from different sellers, and the product search results fromeach respective seller may be grouped together, or deduplicated, suchthat a limited number of search results for the most relevant productsfrom the respective seller are included within the search results. Forexample, this may correspond to a single search result for each artisanseller. In another embodiment, a user may specify location refinementsin order to limit the scope of a product search to only those sellers ina particular geographic area or meeting other location criteria. Inother embodiments, a user may search an electronic product databasebased at least in part on a time to manufacture, a seller's willingnessto accept custom orders, seller certifications, and other seller-focusedsearch criteria. Although the embodiments herein are discussed withreference to artisan sellers, it is understood that the concepts hereinmay be applicable to other types of sellers as well.

Turning now to FIG. 1A, shown is one example of a user interface 100according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The user interface100 presents a search result listing 103 that includes a plurality ofproduct search results 106. A search query 109 is received from a user(i.e., “engagement ring”), and an electronic product database issearched to determine products that match the search query 109. In thecontext of FIG. 1A, the search that is performed is of products offeredby artisan sellers. In an electronic marketplace that also featuresconventional sellers, a specific category may be designated by a user(e.g., handmade jewelry, crafts, etc.) so as to focus the search toproducts offered by artisan sellers.

Each of the search results 106 may feature an image, title, price,and/or other information about a specific product offered in theelectronic product database. Moreover, seller information 110 may besurfaced in conjunction with each search result 106. The sellerinformation 110 may include a seller name, logo, image, and/or otherinformation about the seller. Selecting a link, image, and/or othercomponent relative to the search result 106 may cause additionalinformation about a product (e.g., a product detail page) to berendered. Also, selecting a link, image, and/or other component relativeto the seller information 110 may cause additional information about theseller (e.g., a seller detail page) to be rendered.

In this example, the user has selected an item grouping criterion 112,and more specifically, the user has checked a checkbox labeled “UniqueSellers.” Selection of the item grouping criterion 112 causes only asingle product from each individual seller to be included within thesearch result listing 103. This product may be, for example, the mostrelevant product that the particular seller offers. Alternatively, thisproduct may be selected based at least in part on seller designatedcriteria. For example, a seller may have certain product designs forwhich they are best known, and the seller may specify that those designsshould be preferred for presentation in search results. In otherembodiments, the item grouping criterion 112 may be enabled by defaultor may otherwise constitute default behavior in generating the searchresults 106 in the search result listing 103. By showing only a singleproduct for each artisan seller, the search result listing 103 may becondensed. Also, artisan sellers would not be able to manipulate theresults by having numerous different product listings. This enables theelectronic marketplace to present not only relevant product results, butalso results from a diverse set of sellers. Thus, a customer can shopartisans as well as products.

When a user would like to have a product custom made, the focus may beon identifying a particular seller rather than identifying a stockproduct offered by the seller. That is to say, the capabilities of theartisan seller may be evaluated by the search user, rather than the usermerely selecting a particular product. Thus, the most relevant productof a given artisan seller may be a worthy example of the artisanseller's capability in lieu of an exhaustive list of repertoireexamples. Additional examples of search refinements and sellerqualification criteria will be discussed below with respect to theoperation of the system and its components.

Moving now to FIG. 1B, shown is one example of a user interface 120according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Unlike the userinterface 100 of FIG. 1A, the user interface 120 includes multiplesearch results 106 for each seller. However, the multiple search results106 are grouped in response to the selection of the item groupingcriterion 112. Additionally, a single search result 121 for each selleris given a greater prominence than the other search results 106 for thatseller. For example, the single search result 121 may be given a greaterdisplay area than the other search results 106 of the seller. The singlesearch result 121 may, for example, be the most relevant result of theseller's search results 106.

A limited amount of screen space may be provided for the search results106 of each seller. In the example of FIG. 1B, a maximum of four resultsmay be shown for each seller, though other quantity limits may beemployed. If additional results are available, the user interface 120may facilitate scrolling horizontally to access the additional resultsof the seller. In yet another example, a single search result 121 may beshown, but with a visual indication of a quantity of additional searchresults 106 that may be accessed by selecting a link or other userinterface component.

With reference to FIG. 2, shown is a networked environment 200 accordingto various embodiments. The networked environment 200 includes acomputing environment 203 and one or more client devices 206, which arein data communication with each other via a network 209. The network 209includes, for example, the Internet, intranets, extranets, wide areanetworks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wired networks, wirelessnetworks, cable networks, satellite networks, or other suitablenetworks, etc., or any combination of two or more such networks.

The computing environment 203 may comprise, for example, a servercomputer or any other system providing computing capability.Alternatively, the computing environment 203 may employ a plurality ofcomputing devices that may be arranged, for example, in one or moreserver banks, computer banks, or other arrangements. Such computingdevices may be located in a single installation or may be distributedamong many different geographical locations. For example, the computingenvironment 203 may include a plurality of computing devices thattogether may comprise a hosted computing resource, a grid computingresource, and/or any other distributed computing arrangement. In somecases, the computing environment 203 may correspond to an elasticcomputing resource where the allotted capacity of processing, network,storage, or other computing-related resources may vary over time.

Various applications and/or other functionality may be executed in thecomputing environment 203 according to various embodiments. Also,various data is stored in a data store 212 that is accessible to thecomputing environment 203. The data store 212 may be representative of aplurality of data stores 212 as can be appreciated. The data stored inthe data store 212, for example, is associated with the operation of thevarious applications and/or functional entities described below.

The components executed on the computing environment 203, for example,include an electronic commerce application 215, a search application218, and other applications, services, processes, systems, engines, orfunctionality not discussed in detail herein. The electronic commerceapplication 215 is executed in order to facilitate the online purchaseof items over the network 209. The electronic commerce application 215also performs various backend functions associated with an electronicmarketplace in order to facilitate the online purchase of items as willbe described. For example, the electronic commerce application 215 maygenerate network pages such as web pages or other types of networkcontent that are provided to client devices 206 for the purposes ofselecting items for purchase, rental, download, lease, or other form ofconsumption as will be described. In one embodiment, the electroniccommerce application 215 is configured to facilitate an onlinecustomization conference between a seller and a customer over thenetwork 209 to discuss designing a customized item. Such a customizationconference may include video and/or audio.

The search application 218 is executed to generate search results 106 inresponse to receiving a search query 109 and possibly refinements 219from a client device 206 over the network 209. To this end, the searchapplication 218 is configured to search an electronic item database 221for items 224 that are associated with data that matches the searchquery 109. The search application 218 may also apply one or morerefinements 219 received from the client device 206 or stored inconnection with a user profile in order to filter or limit the searchresults 106. The generated search results 106 may be included within asearch result listing 103 that is returned to the client device 206 forrendering in a user interface 100 (FIG. 1A).

The data stored in the data store 212 includes, for example, anelectronic item database 221, seller information 225, user data 227, asearch configuration 230, and potentially other data. The electronicitem database 221 includes information about a plurality of items 224offered by a plurality of sellers 233 in an electronic marketplace. Asused herein, the term “item” may refer to products, goods, services,downloads, and/or any other item that may be offered for sale, lease,rental, or other forms of consumption.

In some cases, the items 224 may be organized within the electronic itemdatabase 221 into a taxonomy 234 of categories to facilitate browsing,which may be represented, for example, by a tree structure composed ofbrowse nodes 235. As a non-limiting example, a browse node 235 maycorrespond to “Crafts” with multiple child browse nodes 235 such as“Jewelry” and “Home Decor.” An item 224 may be associated with one ormore such browse nodes 235. Some browse nodes 235 may include items 224that are associated only with artisan sellers 233, while other browsenodes 235 may include items 224 that are associated with artisan sellers233 and non-artisan sellers 233, while still other browse nodes 235 mayinclude items 224 associated only with non-artisan sellers 233.

Each item 224 may be associated with a given seller 233, iteminformation 236, offer information 239, and/or other data. In somecases, an item 224 may be offered by multiple sellers 233 in anelectronic marketplace. However, especially with artisan sellers 233, agiven item 224 may be unique to the particular seller 233 and may beassigned a unique item identifier.

The item information 236 may include title, description, weight, images,shipping classifications, customer reviews, videos, and/or otherinformation that may be used to describe an item 224. The offerinformation 239 may include information relating to a specific offeringof the item 224 by a seller 233 in an electronic marketplace. To thisend, the offer information 239 may include price, availability,discounts, and/or other information.

The seller information 225 includes information about a given seller 233that participates in the electronic marketplace. The seller information225 may be shared among some or all of multiple items 224 offered by aseller 233. The seller information 225 may include, for example, alocation 242, customization information 245, production time information248, seller certification information, and/or other data. The location242 may be the seller's place of business, fulfillment location, and/orother locations. In some cases, a seller 233 may be associated withmultiple locations 242.

The customization information 245 may indicate whether a seller 233 iswilling to produce a customized item 224, and if so, what attributes ofthe item 224 are available for customization. For some types of items224, the customization information 245 may specify that certainattributes are required to be specified by a user in order to producethe item 224. For example, a seller 233 may indicate in thecustomization information 245 that for an item 224 that is a decorativename tag, a user may be required to provide the name that is to be shownupon the decorative name tag. The customization information 245 may alsoindicate the willingness of the seller 233 to participate in a designcustomization conference with the customer, which may include videoand/or audio and may be facilitated by way of the electronic commerceapplication 215. The design customization conference may also include anin-person appointment, which may be especially appropriate when a localseller is selected. For instance, customers ordering made-to-measureclothes may want to schedule an in-person appointment to have theirmeasurements taken, rather than supplying the measurements to the sellerremotely. Seller availability for in-person appointments may also bespecified in the customization information 245. In some cases, anin-person appointment may result in an increased cost to the customer.

The production time information 248 may include information relating tohow long it will take to manufacture or produce items 224. For example,an artisan seller 233 of handcrafted custom jewelry may specify aproduction time of six weeks. In some cases, the production timeinformation 248 may specify approximate times until shipping, shippingtimes, and/or other durations that may impact how long it will take acustomer to receive an item 224.

The user data 227 may include various data about users of the electronicmarketplace, including profile information, personalization information,demographic information, browsing history, order history, previouspurchasing habits, and so on. The previous purchasing habits and otheruser data 227 may, for example, be used to direct users to particularsellers 233 (e.g., “Sellers you may be interested in”). The searchconfiguration 230 may include parameters that control the operation ofthe search application 218. For example, the search configuration 230may indicate how many search results 106 should be shown within a singlenetwork page, relevancy formulas for selecting and/or ranking searchresults 106, whether items 224 from sellers 233 should be grouped, etc.

The client device 206 is representative of a plurality of client devicesthat may be coupled to the network 209. The client device 206 maycomprise, for example, a processor-based system such as a computersystem. Such a computer system may be embodied in the form of a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, personal digital assistants, cellulartelephones, smartphones, set-top boxes, music players, web pads, tabletcomputer systems, game consoles, electronic book readers, or otherdevices with like capability. The client device 206 may include adisplay 251. The display 251 may comprise, for example, one or moredevices such as liquid crystal display (LCD) displays, gas plasma-basedflat panel displays, organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays,electrophoretic ink (E ink) displays, LCD projectors, or other types ofdisplay devices, etc.

The client device 206 may be configured to execute various applicationssuch as a client application 254 and/or other applications. The clientapplication 254 may be executed in a client device 206, for example, toaccess network content served up by the computing environment 203 and/orother servers, thereby rendering a user interface 100 on the display251. To this end, the client application 254 may comprise, for example,a browser, a dedicated application, etc., and the user interface 100 maycomprise a network page, an application screen, etc. The client device206 may be configured to execute applications beyond the clientapplication 254 such as, for example, email applications, socialnetworking applications, word processors, spreadsheets, and/or otherapplications.

Next, a general description of the operation of the various componentsof the networked environment 200 is provided. To begin, a user at aclient device 206 may request a network page from the electroniccommerce application 215 or the search application 218 that includes acomponent that facilitates specification of a search query 109. Forexample, the component may correspond to a text input field.Alternatively, the user may select a browse node 235 within a taxonomy234 and this may correspond to a search query 109 directed at all items224 associated with the selected browse node 235.

In addition, the network page may include one or more components thatpermit refinements 219 to be specified. For example, a user may enablean item grouping criterion such that only a single item 224 from eachseller 233 is returned. In addition, the user may also specify sellerqualification criteria that may be used to filter the results byqualified sellers 233. For example, the seller qualification criteriamay be based at least in part on location 242, a production time,whether the seller 233 is willing to customize the item 224, whether theseller 233 supports a particular type of customization, whether theseller 233 is willing to participate in a design customizationconference, ratings of the seller 233, seller certifications, sellerskills, technologies or tools used by the seller 233, materials used bythe seller 233, aesthetics, associations of the seller 233 (e.g., fairtrade, sources of material, employment methodologies, organizations),and/or other qualification criteria. The network page may includecheckboxes, sliders, drop-down boxes, text input fields, text areas,and/or other input components in order to specify the refinements 219.

Upon receiving the search query 109 and refinements 219, the searchapplication 218 performs a search of the electronic item database 221for items 224 that match, or are relevant to, the search query 109. Inthis regard, the search application 218 may compare the text of thesearch query 109 to text in the title, description, customer reviews,etc. in the item information 236. If there is a match, or at least apartial match, the item 224 is considered for inclusion in the searchresults 106. Synonyms, spelling correction, and related words may beused to facilitate the matching process. For example, if a user searchesfor “flatware,” the term “cutlery” may also be used in the search.

Each item 224 returned from the search may be associated with arespective measure of relevancy. The measure of relevancy may be basedon a variety of factors, including, for example, quality of the textualmatch to the search query 106, listing date of the item 224, popularityof the item 224, price of the item 224, customer rating of the item 224,and/or other relevancy factors. A linear combination wherein each factoris weighted by a respective constant and the weighted factors are summedmay be used to compute the relevancy measures. The items 224 within thesearch results 106 may be ranked according to the respective relevancymeasures.

The resulting items 224 that otherwise match the search query 109 maythen be filtered by the search application 218 according to therefinements 219. For example, the refinements 219 may specify sellerqualification criteria, and the seller information 225 for a given item224 may be compared with the seller qualification criteria to determinewhether the corresponding seller 233 meets the criteria. If the seller233 does not meet the criteria, the items 224 of the seller 233 may beexcluded from the search results 106. Alternatively, the items 224 ofthe seller 233 may be assigned a lower ranking or relevancy score.

Further, if an item grouping criterion 112 (FIG. 1A) is enabled, theresulting items 224 may be filtered so that only a single item 224 fromeach respective seller 223 is included within the search results 106 ofthe search result listing 103. In one embodiment, only the item 224 thatis most relevant will be shown, while the other, lesser relevant items224 of the seller 233 are excluded from the search results 106. Inanother embodiment, the results from each seller 233 are displayed as astack of results (e.g., cascading thumbnails) so that the customer cansee that there are multiple results from that seller 233. The mostrelevant result may be the only one displayed for that seller 233, orthe most relevant result may be emphasized or given a greater prominenceas compared to the lesser relevant results. Some visual cue may bepresented that evidences that multiple items 224 from the seller 233 areavailable, and the visual cue may be selected to take the customer tothe seller's detail page.

The search application 218 then generates a search result listing 103including the filtered search results 106. The search result listing 103may be encoded in a network page or other user interface and thenreturned to the client device 206 over the network 209. Where the numberof search results 106 is too great to be rendered upon a display 251,the search results 106 may be divided among multiple network pages, or aviewport of the user interface 100 may expand (e.g., upon scrolling)such that additional search results 106 may be viewed.

In some embodiments, the client application 254 may perform thefiltering of the search results 106 described herein. For example, datadescribing all items 224 matching the search query 109 may be returnedto the client application 254. The client application 254 may beconfigured to assess applicability of refinements 219, including sellerqualification criteria and an item grouping criterion, to determinewhich items 224 are to be excluded from the search result listing 103.This may occur dynamically after an initial search result listing 103 isrendered upon the display 251.

A search result 106 rendered in a search result listing 103 may includea link or other component to obtain additional information about theitem 224 (i.e., an item detail page) as well as a link or othercomponent to obtain additional information about the seller 233 (i.e., aseller detail page). An item detail page may include full descriptions,additional images, customer reviews, etc., regarding a given item 224,as well as components that facilitate adding the item 224 to a shoppingcart or other type of list and/or completing an order of the item 224.

Where search results 106 from non-artisan sellers 233 are mixed withsearch results 106 from artisan sellers 233, the search application 218may be configured to replace item search results 106 from the artisansellers 233 with a single widget for the artisan seller 233 that directsthe user to a seller detail page. These widgets may be commingled withitem search results 106 from the non-artisan sellers 233.

Referring next to FIG. 3A, shown is one example of a seller detail page300 generated by an electronic commerce application 215 (FIG. 2)executed in a computing environment 203 (FIG. 2) of the networkedenvironment 200 (FIG. 2). The seller detail page 300 is used to provideadditional information about an artisan seller 233 (FIG. 2) toprospective customers. This information may include design,manufacturing practices, history, and so on. The seller detail page 300allows customers to determine the level of skill and craftsmanshipinvolved in the production of the seller's items 224 (FIG. 2). Theseller detail page 300 may be a place for the seller 233 to add richmedia to communicate their story.

In this example, the seller name 303 is prominently displayed, nearseller rating information 306 of the seller 233. One or more images 309of the seller 233 may be displayed. The seller detail page 300 mayinclude a tagline 312 and a quotation 315. In some cases, a signature318 of the seller 233 may be shown. Biographical information 321 may bepresented, along with other information 324 including artisan name, whomanufactures the items 224 (FIG. 2), production method, customizationoptions, average custom order processing time, and so on. A component327 may be provided to contact the seller 233, and a component 330 maybe provided to request a custom order. Various links 333 may be providedto view the presence of the seller 233 on social networks.

In other examples, various items 224 may be featured or showcased uponthe seller detail page 300. The seller detail page 300 may also includevideos, an icon indicating what region or geographic area in which theseller 233 is located, and other information. In addition to displayingcontent provided by the seller 233, content provided by the electronicmarketplace may also be included on the seller detail page 300. Forexample, customer item reviews, item ratings, etc., may be included.This marketplace content may be non-specific to the particular seller233.

Turning now to FIG. 4, shown is one example of a user interface 340rendered in association with a product detail page generated by theelectronic commerce application 215 (FIG. 2) executed in a computingenvironment 203 (FIG. 2) of the networked environment 200 (FIG. 2). Theuser interface 340 pertains to specifying customization options for aparticular artisan item 224 (FIG. 2). The user interface 340 includestwo alternative approaches to specifying customization options:components 343 allow for selecting from a predetermined set ofcustomization options, while components 346 allow for directcommunication with the seller 233 (FIG. 2). In this example, radiobuttons are used to select either the components 343 or the components346.

The components 343 allow a user to select from a variety ofcustomization options. This non-limiting example pertains to a ring, andallows for selection of options relating to metal type, gemstone type,ring size, engraving, and quantity. Some options are required to bespecified, while others are not required. Some options may involve anupcharge or downcharge with respect to an initially quoted price. Thecomponents 343 include a price quote, an estimate of processing time,and a component configured to add the customized artisan item 224 to ashopping cart or to place an order.

By contrast, the components 346 allow a user to enter freeform textdescribing the desired customizations for the item 224, which is sharedwith the seller 233 for consideration. However, the seller 233 may haveagreed to participate in such a program, thereby allowing the seller 233to be found via the search application 218 (FIG. 2) when participationis required as a seller qualification by a user. In addition to freeformtext input, the components 346 may facilitate an audio or video designconference in other examples. Upon entry of the design specification anda date at which the item 224 is needed, an email or other form ofcommunication may be sent to the seller 233 and the seller may be ableto accept or reject the order. In some embodiments, the user may be ableto provide inspirational information to the seller 233. For example, theuser may upload an image of an item 224 and ask the seller 233 to make asimilar item 224.

Referring next to FIG. 4, shown is a flowchart that provides one exampleof the operation of a portion of the search application 218 according tovarious embodiments. It is understood that the flowchart of FIG. 4provides merely an example of the many different types of functionalarrangements that may be employed to implement the operation of theportion of the search application 218 as described herein. As analternative, the flowchart of FIG. 4 may be viewed as depicting anexample of elements of a method implemented in the computing environment203 (FIG. 2) according to one or more embodiments.

Beginning with box 403, the search application 218 obtains a searchquery 109 (FIG. 2) and potentially one or more refinements 219 (FIG. 2)from a client device 206 (FIG. 2) by way of a network 209 (FIG. 2). Inbox 406, the search application 218 determines items 224 (FIG. 2) fromthe electronic item database 221 (FIG. 2) that match the search query109. In box 409, the search application 218 determines a measure ofrelevancy for each item 224. For example, the relevancy may be based atleast in part on a listing date, an item price, a quantity of views, aseller rating, and/or other factors.

In box 412, the search application 218 determines whether sellerqualification criteria are specified by the refinements 219. If so, thesearch application 218 moves to box 415 and filters the items 224 basedat least in part on whether the seller 233 (FIG. 2) of the respectiveitem 224 meets the specified seller qualification criteria. For example,seller qualification criteria may require that the seller 223 offer acustomization video conference via a customization conferenceparticipation criterion, offer a specific type of product customization,be willing to produce a customized item, meet seller location criteria,meet production time criteria, meet seller certification criteria, andso on. The search application 218 then continues to box 418. If noseller qualification criteria are specified, the search application 218moves from box 412 to box 418.

In box 418, the search application 218 determines whether an itemgrouping criterion 112 (FIG. 2) is specified by the refinements 219. Ifthe item grouping criterion 112 is specified, the search application 218moves to box 421 and selects a single most relevant item 224 for eachseller 233. In this regard, the search application 219 may exclude allitems 224 offered by each seller 233 other than the single item 224 fromthe search results. Alternatively, the other items 224 may be featuredwith a lesser display prominence (i.e., with smaller text, images, anddisplay size) as compared to the selected single items 224. The searchapplication 218 then continues to box 424. If the item groupingcriterion is not specified, the search application 218 continuesdirectly from box 418 to box 424.

In box 424, the search application 218 generates a search result listing103 (FIG. 1A) including a plurality of search results 106 (FIG. 2). Inbox 427, the search application 218 sends data encoding the searchresult listing 103 to the client device 206 over the network 209.Thereafter, the portion of the search application 218 ends.

With reference to FIG. 5, shown is a schematic block diagram of thecomputing environment 203 according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The computing environment 203 includes one or more computingdevices 500. Each computing device 500 includes at least one processorcircuit, for example, having a processor 503 and a memory 506, both ofwhich are coupled to a local interface 509. To this end, each computingdevice 500 may comprise, for example, at least one server computer orlike device. The local interface 509 may comprise, for example, a databus with an accompanying address/control bus or other bus structure ascan be appreciated.

Stored in the memory 506 are both data and several components that areexecutable by the processor 503. In particular, stored in the memory 506and executable by the processor 503 are the electronic commerceapplication 215, the search application 218, and potentially otherapplications. Also stored in the memory 506 may be a data store 212 andother data. In addition, an operating system may be stored in the memory506 and executable by the processor 503.

It is understood that there may be other applications that are stored inthe memory 506 and are executable by the processor 503 as can beappreciated. Where any component discussed herein is implemented in theform of software, any one of a number of programming languages may beemployed such as, for example, C, C++, C#, Objective C, Java®,JavaScript®, Perl, PHP, Visual Basic®, Python®, Ruby, Flash®, or otherprogramming languages.

A number of software components are stored in the memory 506 and areexecutable by the processor 503. In this respect, the term “executable”means a program file that is in a form that can ultimately be run by theprocessor 503. Examples of executable programs may be, for example, acompiled program that can be translated into machine code in a formatthat can be loaded into a random access portion of the memory 506 andrun by the processor 503, source code that may be expressed in properformat such as object code that is capable of being loaded into a randomaccess portion of the memory 506 and executed by the processor 503, orsource code that may be interpreted by another executable program togenerate instructions in a random access portion of the memory 506 to beexecuted by the processor 503, etc. An executable program may be storedin any portion or component of the memory 506 including, for example,random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), hard drive,solid-state drive, USB flash drive, memory card, optical disc such ascompact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, magnetictape, or other memory components.

The memory 506 is defined herein as including both volatile andnonvolatile memory and data storage components. Volatile components arethose that do not retain data values upon loss of power. Nonvolatilecomponents are those that retain data upon a loss of power. Thus, thememory 506 may comprise, for example, random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), hard disk drives, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, memory cards accessed via a memory card reader, floppy disksaccessed via an associated floppy disk drive, optical discs accessed viaan optical disc drive, magnetic tapes accessed via an appropriate tapedrive, and/or other memory components, or a combination of any two ormore of these memory components. In addition, the RAM may comprise, forexample, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), or magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and other suchdevices. The ROM may comprise, for example, a programmable read-onlymemory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), anelectrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or otherlike memory device.

Also, the processor 503 may represent multiple processors 503 and/ormultiple processor cores and the memory 506 may represent multiplememories 506 that operate in parallel processing circuits, respectively.In such a case, the local interface 509 may be an appropriate networkthat facilitates communication between any two of the multipleprocessors 503, between any processor 503 and any of the memories 506,or between any two of the memories 506, etc. The local interface 509 maycomprise additional systems designed to coordinate this communication,including, for example, performing load balancing. The processor 503 maybe of electrical or of some other available construction.

Although the electronic commerce application 215, the search application218, and other various systems described herein may be embodied insoftware or code executed by general purpose hardware as discussedabove, as an alternative the same may also be embodied in dedicatedhardware or a combination of software/general purpose hardware anddedicated hardware. If embodied in dedicated hardware, each can beimplemented as a circuit or state machine that employs any one of or acombination of a number of technologies. These technologies may include,but are not limited to, discrete logic circuits having logic gates forimplementing various logic functions upon an application of one or moredata signals, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) havingappropriate logic gates, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), orother components, etc. Such technologies are generally well known bythose skilled in the art and, consequently, are not described in detailherein.

The flowchart of FIG. 4 shows the functionality and operation of animplementation of portions of the search application 218. If embodied insoftware, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of codethat comprises program instructions to implement the specified logicalfunction(s). The program instructions may be embodied in the form ofsource code that comprises human-readable statements written in aprogramming language or machine code that comprises numericalinstructions recognizable by a suitable execution system such as aprocessor 503 in a computer system or other system. The machine code maybe converted from the source code, etc. If embodied in hardware, eachblock may represent a circuit or a number of interconnected circuits toimplement the specified logical function(s).

Although the flowchart of FIG. 4 shows a specific order of execution, itis understood that the order of execution may differ from that which isdepicted. For example, the order of execution of two or more blocks maybe scrambled relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shownin succession in FIG. 4 may be executed concurrently or with partialconcurrence. Further, in some embodiments, one or more of the blocksshown in FIG. 4 may be skipped or omitted. In addition, any number ofcounters, state variables, warning semaphores, or messages might beadded to the logical flow described herein, for purposes of enhancedutility, accounting, performance measurement, or providingtroubleshooting aids, etc. It is understood that all such variations arewithin the scope of the present disclosure.

Also, any logic or application described herein, including theelectronic commerce application 215 and the search application 218, thatcomprises software or code can be embodied in any non-transitorycomputer-readable medium for use by or in connection with an instructionexecution system such as, for example, a processor 503 in a computersystem or other system. In this sense, the logic may comprise, forexample, statements including instructions and declarations that can befetched from the computer-readable medium and executed by theinstruction execution system. In the context of the present disclosure,a “computer-readable medium” can be any medium that can contain, store,or maintain the logic or application described herein for use by or inconnection with the instruction execution system.

The computer-readable medium can comprise any one of many physical mediasuch as, for example, magnetic, optical, or semiconductor media. Morespecific examples of a suitable computer-readable medium would include,but are not limited to, magnetic tapes, magnetic floppy diskettes,magnetic hard drives, memory cards, solid-state drives, USB flashdrives, or optical discs. Also, the computer-readable medium may be arandom access memory (RAM) including, for example, static random accessmemory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), or magneticrandom access memory (MRAM). In addition, the computer-readable mediummay be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM),an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or other type of memorydevice.

Further, any logic or application described herein, including theelectronic commerce application 215 and the search application 218, maybe implemented and structured in a variety of ways. For example, one ormore applications described may be implemented as modules or componentsof a single application. Further, one or more applications describedherein may be executed in shared or separate computing devices or acombination thereof. For example, a plurality of the applicationsdescribed herein may execute in the same computing device 500, or inmultiple computing devices 500 in the same computing environment 203.Additionally, it is understood that terms such as “application,”“service,” “system,” “engine,” “module,” and so on may beinterchangeable and are not intended to be limiting.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,”unless specifically stated otherwise, is otherwise understood with thecontext as used in general to present that an item, term, etc., may beeither X, Y, or Z, or any combination thereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z).Thus, such disjunctive language is not generally intended to, and shouldnot, imply that certain embodiments require at least one of X, at leastone of Y, or at least one of Z to each be present.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of thepresent disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations setforth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure.Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-describedembodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit andprinciples of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations areintended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure andprotected by the following claims.

Therefore, the following is claimed:
 1. A system, comprising: at leastone computing device; and at least one application executable in the atleast one computing device, wherein when executed the at least oneapplication causes the at least one computing device to at least:receive a search query from a client device; search an electronic itemdatabase to identify a plurality of items that are relevant to thesearch query; determine that a plurality of sellers each offer at leasttwo of the plurality of items; and generate a search result listing thatincludes a single prominently featured item respectively offered by eachof the plurality of sellers.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theplurality of sellers are determined based at least in part on user dataassociated with the client device.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein thesearch result listing includes at least one additional item respectivelyoffered by at least one of the plurality of sellers, the at least oneadditional item having a lesser display area than the single prominentlyfeatured item of the at least one of the plurality of sellers.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein when executed the at least one applicationfurther causes the at least one computing device to at least send dataencoding a user interface configured to present the search resultlisting to the client device.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the userinterface includes a component associated with the single prominentlyfeatured item that, when selected, causes information about acorresponding one of the plurality of sellers to be rendered for displayby the client device.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein when executedthe at least one application further causes the at least one computingdevice to at least determine the single prominently featured item fromthe at least two of the plurality of items as having a highest measureof relevance to the search query.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein whenexecuted the at least one application further causes the at least onecomputing device to at least filter or rank the search result listingbased at least in part on a seller location criterion received from theclient device.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein when executed the atleast one application further causes the at least one computing deviceto at least filter or rank the search result listing based at least inpart on a production time criterion received from the client device. 9.The system of claim 1, wherein when executed the at least oneapplication further causes the at least one computing device to at leastfilter or rank the search result listing based at least in part on aseller certification criterion received from the client device.
 10. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein when executed the at least one applicationfurther causes the at least one computing device to at least filter orrank the search result listing based at least in part on a customizationconference participation criterion received from the client device. 11.A method, comprising: receiving, by at least one computing device, asearch query from a client device; searching, by the at least onecomputing device, an electronic item database to identify a plurality ofitems that are relevant to the search query; determining, by the atleast one computing device, that a plurality of sellers each offer atleast two of the plurality of items; selecting, by the at least onecomputing device, a single item for each of the plurality of sellersthat is most relevant to the search query; and generating, by the atleast one computing device, a search result listing that includes thesingle item respectively offered by each of the plurality of sellers.12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of sellers are artisansellers.
 13. The method of claim 11, further comprising excluding, bythe at least one computing device, one or more sellers from theplurality of sellers based at least in part on the one or more sellersnot meeting a seller qualification criterion.
 14. The method of claim11, further comprising excluding, by the at least one computing device,one or more sellers from the plurality of sellers based at least in parton the one or more sellers not meeting a production time criterion. 15.The method of claim 11, further comprising excluding, by the at leastone computing device, one or more sellers from the plurality of sellersbased at least in part on the one or more sellers not meeting a sellercertification criterion.
 16. The method of claim 11, wherein the searchresult listing includes at least one additional item respectivelyoffered by at least one of the plurality of sellers, the at least oneadditional item having a lesser display area than the single item of theat least one of the plurality of sellers.
 17. The method of claim 11,further comprising generating, by the at least one computing device, acomponent associated with the single item that, when selected, causesinformation about a corresponding one of the plurality of sellers to berendered for display by the client device.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least onecomputing device, wherein when executed the program causes the at leastone computing device to at least: receive a search query from a clientdevice; search an electronic item database to identify a plurality ofitems that are relevant to the search query; determine that a pluralityof sellers each offer at least two of the plurality of items; select asingle item for each of the plurality of sellers; and generate a searchresult listing that includes the single item respectively offered byeach of the plurality of sellers and excludes at least one other itemfrom the plurality of items that are offered by the plurality ofsellers.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18,wherein the single item is selected to correspond to a most relevantitem offered by a respective seller of the plurality of sellers suchthat the most relevant item is most relevant to the search query. 20.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein whenexecuted the program further causes the at least one computing device toat least exclude one or more sellers from the plurality of sellers basedat least in part on the one or more sellers not meeting a criterionreceived from the client device.